Counterfeits
by Katy M VT
Summary: Sam disappears without a trace after his fight with the shapeshifter.  With no clues to go on, will Dean and John be able to find him before it's too late.  Takes place during Skin.  Chapter 7 of 7 up.
1. Chapter 1

Sam felt the coffee table breaking under him as the shifter tackled him into it. It was kind of scary how much he looked like Dean. He had seen that same expression in Dean's eyes a million times when something was threatening him.

"Even when we were kids I always kicked your ass," the shifter said.

Sam was sickened by the fact that someone other than Dean would dare act like his older brother. He didn't have much time to dwell on that, though. The shifter started choking him. He gasped for every little bit of breath he could get.

The shifter let up a little bit to prolong the fun. He grinned as Sam drew in a deep breath and then applied the pressure again, cutting off all air. He did this several times. Like a cat playing with a mouse, he soon lost interest and increased the pressure to Sam's windpipe. Sam closed his eyes as his vision turned to gray and he welcomed the darkness.

SSS

"Wait out here," Dean barked to Rebecca as he went running into her house. He could only hope that the shifter remained here with Sam and hadn't killed him yet.

He ran into the front room and saw that it had been totally trashed. He walked to the center of it and froze. It was totally freaky. He was looking at himself, shot square in the chest.

"SAM!" he yelled.

He got no response. He ran through all the rooms and then ran back outside. "Is Sam out here?" he asked Rebecca.

"No. Why? What's going on?" Rebecca asked worriedly.

"The shapeshifter is inside dead, but Sam's not there."

"Maybe he went looking for us," Rebecca suggested.

Dean calmed down a bit. That made sense. Sam had managed to shoot the shifter, who may have taunted him about having Rebecca tied up and he went to look for her.

"OK, I'll call him," Dean said. He pulled out his cell phone and called Sam. He had left the front door open and he heard ringing coming from inside. He rushed back in with Rebecca right behind him.

They followed the ringing and found Sam's cell phone partially underneath the shifter. Dean noticed that his amulet was still around its neck. He absentmindedly bent down to rip it from its neck. "Sam wouldn't have left this behind," Dean decided.

"Are you sure?" Rebecca asked. She had never known Sam to care all that much for material things.

"Yeah. He gave this to me when we were kids. I almost never take it off. He knows how much it means to me. It's my prize possession right after the Impala. He knows I hated the idea of that monster wearing it. He would have got it back for me if he could have."

"Well, what do you think happened then? Obviously the shapeshifter didn't kill him."

Dean took a closer look at the scene in front of him. "Looks like someone dragged someone out of here. There's a path through the debris. Maybe the shifter did kill Sam," Dean paused. He wouldn't entertain that possibility. Not for a second. "Maybe the shifter knocked Sam out, someone came in here and shot the shifter, then dragged Sam out of here."

"Why? Who?" Rebecca asked, thinking the whole thing sounded more than a little bizarre. Then again, pretty much everything she had heard the last couple of days sounded pretty bizarre.

"I don't know," Dean admitted. He had no idea who took Sam or why, which was going to make him really hard to find.

SSS

Sam groaned and opened his eyes. When he had last closed them, he had assumed that it was for the last time. He tried to raise his arms up off his chest, but they wouldn't move. He lifted his head up and noted that he was in a straitjacket.

He didn't appear to be restrained in any other way so he sat up on the bed. The first thing he noticed was that he was in a padded room. The walls were bright white. So bright they almost hurt his eyes. He looked over to the left and saw there was a second bed. He almost gagged when he noticed there was a skeleton in it. The skeleton was also wearing a straitjacket.

Sam closed his eyes in fear. For some reason the shapeshifter had brought him here to starve to death.

He had to get out of here. He stood up. He wasn't wearing any shoes. His pants had been removed and been replaced with sweats. He walked along the walls, kicking every inch. He couldn't even tell where the door was. It was invisible. "HELP!" he yelled. He screamed two more times, but that was all he could manage. He had nearly been strangled to death earlier, after all.

He heard a noise and turned to look behind him. He had found the door at last and someone was opening it from the outside.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Joey."

"Jimmy?" Sam asked in almost more fear than he had been in a minute ago. The Jacksons had been hunting friends of his family. When he was 17, Joey, the youngest, and the same age as Sam had been killed falling into the river while on a joint wendigo hunt with his family. Jimmy, and his father Jed, had blamed John for the accident.

"I've missed you, Joey," Jimmy said.

"I'm not Joey," Sam said.

A year after Joey's accident, Jimmy and Jed had kidnapped Sam to get back at John. The whole eye for an eye thing. They had taken him to the same bridge from which Joey had fallen to his death and threw him over the side with his hands tied behind his back. Luckily his dad and Dean had showed up on the scene and dived in to rescue him.

Jimmy walked up to Sam and punched him. "Don't ever lie to me, Joey."

"Sorry," Sam said. He wasn't really in a position to argue right now. He would have to play along. Jimmy seemed pretty volatile

"That's OK," Jimmy said. "Have you introduced yourself to my wife yet?"

"Your wife?" Sam asked. This was all getting very bizarre.

Jimmy indicated the skeleton. "Elizabeth, this is my brother, Joey. I've told you about him." Jimmy turned back to Sam.

"Nice to meet you," Sam said, feeling ridiculous.

"Elizabeth is shy. She doesn't talk much," Jimmy apologized for his wife.

"How did you two meet?" Sam asked. He had to figure out something he could use to get Jimmy to let him go.

SSS

Dean called and left his father a message that Sam was missing and where they were. He had no doubt that it would make no difference. John hadn't returned one of his phone calls. He assumed Sam had left messages. He assumed they weren't returned either.

"Alright, Becca, you're going to have to call the cops. You have a dead body in your house. Tell them you came home and found him. Tell them it's the same guy who attacked you last night. Tell them my name and that I was jealous of Sam's friends and confessed to you that I killed Emily. That should get your brother out of jail."

"But what about you?"

"I just need to find Sam. You'd better call now. If you wait too long it will look suspicious."

With that Dean fled the house. He wished he had a clue where to look for Sam.

SSS

"We met shortly after Dad died," Jimmy began.

"Dad's dead?" Sam asked. He hadn't known that Jed had died.

"Yeah. John Winchester killed him. You know John always blamed dad for getting Sam killed by that wendigo."

"What?" Sam asked. He was totally mixing up everything in the story, so now he didn't know if Jed was dead or John.

"Yeah, you remember? Anyway, John finally got his revenge and killed Dad. I decided to get out of hunting. I met Elizabeth at her parent's house. I was doing pool cleaning and stuff. We started dating and got married. About a week after we got married her parents died and left her millions so we didn't have to work anymore. We mostly just stayed at home, enjoying each other's company."

Sam wondered how she ended up in a straitjacket, dead. He decided to just ask. About the straitjacket anyway. Might not be a good idea to mention the dead part. Jimmy seemed a few drops short of a puddle. "Why is she in a straitjacket? Why am I for that matter?"

"She wanted to leave me. You already left me. By the way, just so you know, I'm not crazy. I know she's dead."

Sam wasn't sure if he was relieved at that or not. "Then why is she still here?"

"Nobody I love is going to leave me ever again," Jimmy stated flatly. "Not her. Not you."

"I only left because Dad wanted me to go to college." Sam remembered the irony of how he wanted to leave and his father wouldn't let him and Joey didn't want to leave and his father wanted him to.

Sam was rewarded with another punch. "I just told you. I'm not crazy. I know you're really Sam. I know what really happened. But from now on, the story I just told you is the truth. And Joey is not leaving me again. Got that?"

"Jimmy, please," Sam started.

Jimmy punched him again. "Got that?" he screamed.

Sam nodded.

"I can't hear you," Jimmy singsonged.

"Yes," Sam whispered.

"Yes what?" Jimmy prompted.

"Yes sir?" Sam asked.

"Yes big brother," Jimmy corrected.

"Yes big brother," Sam intoned, once again having some sicko pretend to be his older brother. That prompted him to wonder what happened to his real big brother.

SSS

Dean had to figure out how to find his brother and evade the police at the same time. The good thing was they wouldn't be actively looking for him since they thought he was dead.

But he was still stuck with the fact that the only thing he knew for sure was that someone had dragged Sam from the house. He didn't know if it was a person or a creature and he didn't know if Sam was alive or dead at the time.

When he had left the house he had found the drag marks that ended at the driveway. All that told him was that someone, or something, had loaded Sam into some kind of vehicle. Considering the fact that he never figured someone would drag Sam somewhere for miles, that didn't help him at all.

He had been sitting in a hotel room all day trying to figure out a starting point. The only thing he had come up with was to knock on every single door in the city until he found Sam. That would go over great. His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at his door.

"Sam?" he said hopefully as he opened the door.

"No, it's me," John said.

"Dad? Where have you been?" Dean asked.

"I got a lead on the thing that killed your mother, but it will have to wait until we find Sam. Do you have any leads?"

"No," Dean admitted. "All I know is something shot the shifter that was attacking him and dragged him out of the house to the driveway."

"That's not much to go on, Dean," John said.

"I know," Dean groused back. It was his fault. Sam was his responsibility.

A/N This is a sequel to my story What if Family Remains. I've pretty much summed up what happened in that story with Jimmy and Sam's conversation. I didn't put it was a sequel in the summary, because I didn't want to hint at what was coming in this chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

Sam woke up when the light turned on in his room. He sat up. Jimmy wasn't in here, so he either turned the light on from remote or it was on a timer.

The door opened revealing Jimmy. "You didn't sleep well last night, Joey," Jimmy said.

That was true. Sam had tried to toss and turn, but that was too much work with the jacket. "How did you know that?" Sam asked.

"I have cameras with infrared so I can watch you all the time," Jimmy explained. "I put them in so I would know when Elizabeth needed something. Of course that was before she tried to escape."

"She tried to escape?" Sam asked.

"The first few months of our married life were great. She was happy staying home with me. But then she wanted to go out and make friends and stuff. When I resisted, she threatened to divorce me. That's when I started beating her. Then she threatened to go to the cops, so I locked her down here. But only when I wasn't home and at night," Jimmy said as if that made it reasonable.

"Of course," Sam said, playing along.

"Anyway, one day when I was home, we were upstairs eating dinner and she stabbed my leg with her fork and tried to make it to the door. The silly girl. They're all locked with padlocks and there are bars on the window. There's no escape."

Sam realized that this as much a cautionary tale for him as anything else. "What did you do?" Sam asked.

"I forced her back in the straitjacket, locked her in here and never set foot in here again. Until I brought you in yesterday. Now, would you like to go upstairs?"

Yep, definitely a warning. Sam nodded his head. Elizabeth was creeping him out.

Jimmy undid his straitjacket and Sam stretched his arms out. Then Jimmy put what looked to Sam like one of those anklets that people on house arrest wear. "What's that?"

"That's just a little device that will give you a shock if you get too near the doors or windows, or if I press a button. Jimmy grabbed his arm and guided Sam up the stairs. When they were in the living room Sam looked around. Everything was tightly locked up—the outside doors, the kitchen cabinets, closets, everything.

"What would you like for breakfast, Joey?"

"Pancakes?" Sam ventured. He received his first electric shock and fell down in pain.

"You know fried eggs are your favorite, Joey."

"Of course," Sam said from the floor. He immediately realized that he only had one chance of escape. If he messed up and Jimmy got a chance to shock him, he would be easily overpowered and returned downstairs to share Elizabeth's fate. On the other hand, he might inadvertently do any number of things to earn the same punishment.

"That's OK. Sit at the table and I'll make them for you."

"Thank you big brother," Sam said. Hopefully that would make him happy.

Jimmy smiled at him. "That's more like it." He leaned down and helped Sam to his feet.

Sam sat down and waited for Jimmy to make his eggs. He watched as Jimmy carefully relocked each drawer as he was done with it. Obviously making sure Sam couldn't obtain a weapon somehow. He was handed his eggs along with a plastic fork.

"Thanks," Sam said and set to devouring the eggs. He found he was starving. He hadn't had a chance to eat yesterday, what with being attacked and tied up by a shifter, then apparently rescued from him, to be stuck in a padded room in a straitjacket. His life sucked.

Jimmy sat down across from him and ate his own eggs. "How are they?"

"Good," Sam said.

"What do you want to do this morning?" Jimmy asked.

"What are my choices?" Sam asked, knowing they weren't leaving the house.

"You can clean the bathroom, mop the kitchen floor, or vacuum the upstairs."

"I'll mop the kitchen floor," Sam said.

"Good choice," Jimmy said. "You can get started on that as soon as you wash the dishes."

Sam stood up to bring his plate to the sink. Jimmy jumped up and grabbed him. "Never stand up without my permission. In fact, never stand up unless I help you up."

"I'm sorry," Sam said feeling Jimmy's extremely tight grip on his bicep.

"That's OK," Jimmy said and led Sam over to the sink. He stood over him as Sam washed the dishes.

SSS

Dean and John spent the day on the phone calling every hunter they could think of. They wanted to see if anyone had heard of someone or something who killed monsters and took their victims, or if anyone had heard any grumblings against John.

John actually had a theory. He thought maybe the demon that killed Mary had taken Sam. He knew that he had plans for Sam. He thought he had had more time, but now he wasn't so sure.

SSS

Jimmy looked around at the newly clean house. "Good job, Joey," he said. "Time to get you back to bed."

Sam looked at the clock. It was 8:00. It seemed later. Sam had never spent so much time cleaning in one day. It didn't look like Jimmy had cleaned for months.

"Come on. Downstairs," Jimmy said, once again grabbing Sam's arm. Sam felt like there were probably permanent marks from the rough gripping he had been subject to all day.

Sam went down the stairs alongside of Jimmy. All day long he had tried to think of an escape plan. The doors would all take several minutes to open. The locks looked pretty solid. His only hope was to kill, or seriously incapacitate, Jimmy. But, he had the shocking device to take into consideration. And failure meant certain death. And not a quick, painless one, either.

"Turn around, so I can put your jacket back on."

"Is that really necessary?" Sam asked. It was uncomfortable and he had no way of getting out of the room. The door could only be opened from the outside.

Jimmy punched him in the gut this time, forcing Sam to double over. "Joey, I'm sick of you always sassing me. You know when Dad isn't around, I'm in charge. You're safer with the jacket on. Then I know you can't hurt yourself."

Sam straightened out and turned his back to Jimmy. He let him put the jacket.

"Sit down," Jimmy said in a kind tone as he sat on Sam's bed.

Sam sat down as far away as he could get from him. Jimmy just slid over and closed the distance. "I know you're scared, but everything is going to be OK. I'm your big brother and I'd never let anything bad happen to you."

Sam inadvertently looked to the skeleton.

"That was different. She betrayed me. You would never do that would you?"

Sam didn't answer. He just continued to look at Elizabeth. He felt Jimmy's hand grabbing his chin and forcing his head back to look at him. "Would you?"

"Of course not," Sam said.

"That's my boy," Jimmy said and patted Sam's cheek. "Lay down."

Sam stretched out on the uncomfortable cot and Jimmy knelt next to it.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"Remember when you were little and had trouble sleeping. I would sit by your bed until you fell asleep," Jimmy said as he ran a hand through Sam's hair.

"You don't have to do that," Sam said, wishing he would just leave.

"It's OK. I want to," Jimmy reassured him.

Sam closed his eyes hoping sleep would come quickly.

A few minutes later, he realized it had, but not for him. Jimmy had fallen asleep with his head on Sam's chest. The door to the padded room was still open, but Sam knew he wouldn't get far in a straitjacket. The door opened in, so he knew there was no way he could close it without the use of his hands. He sighed in frustration. He probably would never get another chance like this and he couldn't take advantage of it.

SSS

Sam woke up to find Jimmy sitting next to the bed. "We haven't slept with each other for years. Do you remember the last time, Joey?"

"Not sure," Sam answered.

"Neither do I. This was the best sleep I had in years, though. What about you?" Jimmy asked, expectantly.

Sam nodded.

"Come on. Let's go upstairs. Maybe we can find a good movie on TV."

Joey removed the straitjacket and led Sam upstairs. "I'm not really hungry. You don't want breakfast do you?"

Sam was actually starving but didn't want to incur Jimmy's wrath. "Nah."

"Let's sit on the couch," Jimmy said. When they were seated, Jimmy grabbed the remote with his left hand and kept his hold on Sam's arm with the other. He found a movie, set the remote down and got into the position he intended to keep for the whole movie. After all, he thought, the only way to keep Joey compliant was to make sure he was scared. Joey was bigger than him, so he had to use every advantage he could get. He kept his right hand gripping Sam's arm and used his left hand to hold a gun to Sam's temple. "This is a stay still movie."

Sam closed his eyes. He couldn't believe how crazy this guy was.

SSS

"I think the cops will be done at Rebecca's. Maybe we should see if we can figure anything out at her place," Dean suggested.

"Better than doing nothing," John agreed.

SSS

"Did you find Sam?" Rebecca asked.

"No," Dean answered her. "This is our father."

"Nice to meet you," Rebecca said. It was so weird. In all the time she knew Sam he had never once mentioned his family and now she had met both his brother and his father. But considering what she had learned in the last couple of days his secrecy wasn't surprising.

Dean looked out the window and noticed Rebecca's next door neighbor getting his mail. He could only see his back, but something seemed familiar. When he turned around Dean knew why. "Dad," he yelled.

John and Rebecca came over to the window. "Is that Jimmy Jackson?" Dean asked.

"Yes," John and Rebecca answered together.

"How do you know him?" Rebecca asked.

"He kidnapped Sam a few years ago. I can't believe Sam's been next door this whole time," he said in frustration.

Jimmy looked up from the mail and saw the trio looking at him. He ran for the house. John and Dean ran out to catch up with him. They arrived at the front door, just as Jimmy was bolting it shut.


	4. Chapter 4

Jimmy looked up from the mail and saw the trio looking at him. He ran for the house. John and Dean ran out to catch up with him. They arrived at the front door, just as Jimmy was bolting it shut.

Sam was sitting on the couch where Jimmy had told him to stay. He knew that he had to find an opportunity for escape, but he felt that Jimmy had been testing him. Maybe he wanted him to try so he had an excuse to starve him to death.

Jimmy unlocked the desk next to the door and pulled out handcuffs. He threw them to Sam. "Put these on behind your back," he ordered.

When Sam hesitated, Jimmy pulled out his device and shocked him. Sam fell down in pain again and Jimmy rushed to Sam, rolled him over and placed the cuffs on him. Sam was struggling, but Jimmy was straddling him pretty tightly. Once he had the cuffs on, he slid off of him and lifted him to a sitting position. He held Sam in front of him like he was a frightened child. He ran his hands through his hair and said, "It's OK, I'm not going to let them hurt you."

"Who?" Sam asked. He had no idea what was going on. He didn't see how whatever was outside could be worse than Jimmy though.

"Nothing you have to worry about," Jimmy said and continued to run his hand through his hair.

"Jimmy!" Dean yelled as he and John tried unsuccessfully to get the door open.

Sam's heart leapt with joy. He opened his mouth to yell to Dean. Jimy was faster though and he clapped his hand over Sam's mouth and nose. "Shut up."

Sam couldn't breathe. He tried to make noise. "I'm going to take my hand away now, and you're going to be quiet, right?" Sam nodded and took a deep breath as soon as Jimmy removed his hand from his mouth. He moved it down to Sam's throat, though, just to make sure he stayed in line.

"Leave me and my brother alone," Jimmy yelled towards the door.

Outside Dean and John exchanged a confused look. "His brother?" Dean asked. "Joey's been dead for years."

"He must be replacing Joey with Sam," John reasoned. "That might protect Sam, or it just might mean he's crazy. Either way, I'll feel better once we get inside."

They continued to batter against the door.

"Come on, Joey," Jimmy said and grabbed Sam's arm and helped him up. He propelled him to the kitchen and unlocked a door leading out to the garage. "This is going to hurt," he said as he pushed Sam through the door.

Sam felt the worst pain he'd ever felt. "Sorry about that. The voltage is more for an attempted escape then from a mere punishment." He pushed Sam past the door and towards the car. He opened the passenger side door. "Get in," he ordered and shoved Sam down. Sam was pretty malleable due to the fact that he almost passed out from the pain. Jimmy shoved his feet the rest of the way and shut the door and ran to the other side. He used the automatic garage door opener and was already pushing down on the gas when it started opening.

"What's that?" Dean asked.

"Garage door," John said. "Come on, he's trying to get away."

They raced to the side of the house where the garage was and were nearly mowed over as Jimmy's car sped out of the garage. They saw Sam shaking his head as if just waking up.

Sam turned to see his father and brother disappearing as Jimmy sped away with him. That was the first time he had seen his father in over four years, and it was just a fleeting glance. He also realized that this was Rebecca's neighborhood. He had been so close this whole time, he felt like he should have been able to escape.

John and Dean jumped into the Impala, but Jimmy's Porsche soon outran them. They returned to Rebecca's to see if she could be of any help.

"What do you know about Jimmy Jackson?" Dean asked.

"Not much. He and his wife moved in next door a couple of years ago. Mom and Dad say they haven't seen much of the wife lately."

"Let's go search the place. Rebecca, can you call my cell if you see the cops?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, I'll keep a look out," she promised.

SSS

"Where are we going?" Sam asked.

"Elizabeth's family had a cabin in the mountains. We went up there a couple of times in happier days. I go up once every couple of months now. There's no padded room to keep you in, but there is a root cellar."

"Where is it?" Sam asked.

"In the Ozarks. Not far. I just put gas in the car, so we won't even have to stop."

"You're going to drive up a mountain in this?" Sam asked.

"Of course not. I keep a jeep parked in a lot at the bottom."

SSS

"This is going to take forever. Everything's locked," Dean complained.

"You start upstairs. I'll start down here," John said.

Dean ran upstairs. He had to unlock the medicine cabinet only to find a box of Bandaids and a tube of toothpaste. He picked the lock of the nightstand to find a spare box of Kleenex. He picked the locks of every drawer in the dresser, but there was absolutely nothing but clothes.

John wasn't doing much better downstairs. There were the normal, plates, cutlery and glasses in the kitchen. A linen closet with just blankets, sheets and pillows.

Dean came downstairs. "This guy has to have some paperwork somewhere," Dean complained.

"Is there an attic?" John asked.

"Couldn't find one."

"Basement, then," John said leading the way.

"The basement has to be bigger than this," Dean said looking around.

"There's wear over there by that wall. It must be a secret door," John pointed.

Dean went over and pushed. It opened right up. "Wonder why this isn't locked.

When he and John walked in, John knew why. "Nobody would want to break into their cell."

"Think that's Elizabeth?" Dean asked.

"Probably."

"There's another straitjacket and the sheets are messed up on the other bed. Guess we know where Sammy was last night," Dean said, seething with anger.

"Here's a box," John said. He started pulling out paperwork. "Tons of bills and stuff. He doesn't seem to organized. Guess we have to go through everything."

"Great," Dean said. He hated looking through papers but they didn't have any other leads, so they had n no choice.

SSS

Jimmy pulled over. "Why are we stopping?" Sam asked.

Jimmy didn't answer, but opened the glove compartment and pulled out a syringe. "I always keep this for emergencies."


	5. Chapter 5

Jimmy pulled over. "Why are we stopping?" Sam asked.

Jimmy didn't answer, but opened the glove compartment and pulled out a syringe. "I always keep this for emergencies."

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"Just something to make you sleepy. I can't transfer you to the jeep in handcuffs. It wouldn't look right."

"It won't look right for you to have a fully grown man sleeping either," Sam pointed out.

"Sleepy. Not all the way asleep. You'll just seem drunk," Jimmy said as he jabbed the needle in Sam's arm.

A few minutes later, Sam felt kind of drunk. Jimmy pushed him forwards and took the cuffs off and placed them in his pockets. He proceeded to drive until they got to the lot where his car was parked.

"Hello, Mr. Jackson," the lot attendant said, as Jimmy handed him his ticket.

Jimmy helped Sam out. "Is he OK?" the attendant asked, motioning to Sam.

"This is my brother. He's getting married next week. We had the bachelor party a little early. Good thing, I guess."

"Well, tell him congratulations for me, when he sobers up a bit."

"Will do," Jimmy said as he finished settling Sam. Then he climbed into the driver's seat and drove up the mountain.

Sam felt like he couldn't control any of his body. This was definitely different from being drunk. "How long?" he managed to get out.

"How long does the drug last? You'll be fine by tomorrow. Here we are. Home, sweet, home."

Jimmy helped Sam out of the car. "Ow." Sam said.

"Yeah, those rocks probably don't feel good on bare feet. Good to know, since I don't have any electronic sensors on the doors up here. But, don't let that give you any ideas," Jimmy warned as he increased the pressure on his arm.

He guided Sam in the door. "You won't be much trouble tonight. You can just sleep on the couch." He guided Sam over to the couch and gently pushed him down on it. He really did remind him of Joey in some ways. He went to get a blanket, covered him up with it and watched him sleep again. Then he went outside to make some precautions. When he was finished, he sat in the chair across from Sam and just watched him, until he too fell asleep.

SSS

"Dad, I found something. Looks like he has a cabin in the mountains."

"Does it say where?"

"It gives a PO Box address for up there and has the general location."

"Let's go," John said.

They rushed out and headed out to find Sam.

SSS

"We'll have to get a hotel room and look in the morning," John decided when they were just getting to the mountain resort area.

"But, Dad," Dean protested.

"Dean, the sun is down. We can't roam around the mountains in the dark. Even if we did, we wouldn't have much chance of finding Sam."

"You're right," Dean admitted.

SSS

Sam woke up feeling a bit like he was hung over, but otherwise fine. He opened his eyes and saw that Jimmy was sleeping on the couch. He looked over to the door. It didn't look like it was locked. He knew that he was in his bare feet and it was going to hurt getting down the mountain, but he had to take the chance. Otherwise, he might be stuck with Jimmy and his mood swings forever. As quietly as he could he swung into a sitting position. Jimmy continued to snore. He slowly stood up and crept across the floor the door. He turned the knob and pushed the door open. He turned around and Jimmy still appeared to be sleeping.

He took a tentative step outside and shut the door softly behind him. He stepped onto some leaves and cried out in pain. He had stepped in a bear trap. It was like a bear was biting his leg off. Jimmy came running out.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Joey."

"I, I, I just wanted to come out and enjoy the view," Sam said, hoping Jimmy would believe him.

Jimmy kneeled down next to him. "Even if I believed you, you know the rules. No standing up unless I'm helping you."

"I forgot," Sam said. "Please help me." He just wanted the trap off of him.

"Of course, I'll help you. I'll help you learn the proper way to behave," Joey said. He took the handcuffs out of his pocket where he had stuck them earlier. He snapped them around Sam's wrists behind his back. "If you like it out here so much, you can stay here all day.

There was a brick wall in front of the house, fencing in where there could be a garden. The bear trap was already chained to a hook in that wall. Joey dragged Sam over a bit so that he would be fully hidden by the wall. He put a gag in his mouth and tied it tightly behind his head. He then tied a blindfold around his eyes.

"Lay down," he said and roughly shoved Sam down on the ground. "I probably should have showed these to you before I put the blindfold on, but I'll describe them to you. It's a blade, kind of shaped like a giant staple. Different sizes. I'm going to put one over your neck. If you try to lift your head, you'll slit your own throat." Jimmy laughed.

Sam mumbled behind his gag. He needed to calm Jimmy down somewhere. Jimmy kicked him in his hurt leg. "Every time you make any noise, I'm kicking, or hurting you in some other way. This is just for your own good. You understand that, right?" Jimmy didn't wait for a response, but held Sam in place as he jammed the blade down through the dirt on either side of Sam's neck. It rested about a centimeter above Sam's throat. "I'm putting one over your hips," he said. He fitted that one even tighter, since a little struggle there wasn't as lethally dangerous. "And one over your knees. Are you nice and comfy? I sure hope so, since you won't be moving for a while."

Jimmy went inside and came back out with a set of headphones. "These are soundproof," he said and stuck them over Sam's ears.

Sam was afraid. He couldn't move, he couldn't see, and he couldn't hear.

SSS

Jimmy had gone back in the cabin and left Sam alone for a couple of hours. When he came back out, he stood over Sam.

Sam could feel a shadow above him. He was kind of glad because the sun had been beating mercilessly down on him. He was sweating between that and the pain in his leg. The gag in his mouth was seriously making him feel dehydrated. Hopefully, Jimmy was going to bring him back inside now. Give him some water.

Jimmy knelt next to Sam. He was so mad at him. He needed to make sure he never tried anything like this again. He pulled out a knife and cut Sam's shirt off him. Then he just just ran the sharp blade all over his torso.

Sam could feel the knife. He assumed it was Jimmy. He didn't know if he was actually going to cut him or not. He made sure to make no noise.

Jimmy was gladdened by the fact that Joey wasn't making any noise. He really was learning. He put the knife away and removed the headphones. "Joey, I'm very proud of how quiet you're being. If you keep this up for another couple of hours, I'll let you up." He replaced the headset and decided to go fishing. He grabbed his pole and headed off confident in knowing that Sam would keep quiet even if hikers walked right past the house because he wouldn't know they were there or that Jimmy was gone.

SSS

John and Dean had questioned some people and found someone who knew where Jimmy's cabin was. They followed his directions. They parked a mile away so that Jimmy wouldn't be able to hear their distinctive engine.

"There's a jeep," Dean said.

"It looks like there's only the front entrance. Let's take it quiet." They were creeping by the wall and looked down and saw Sam.

Dean started to go to him.

"Wait," John whispered. "We need to find out if Jimmy's here first."

Dean didn't want to wait even a second, but he realized his father was right. They went inside and took about five minutes to find that nobody was there. "Where is he?" John asked.

"Let's just get Sam out of here and then we'll worry about it," Dean said.

They rushed outside. Dean knelt down over Sam and saw Sam begin to shake.

Sam could feel Jimmy next to him again. He could also feel his breathing speeding up and he thought he was actually trembling a bit. He hated to give Jimmy that kind of power over him, but it was hard not to, when Jimmy had complete control over him.

Dean grabbed the headphones. "It's me, Sammy."

Sam whimpered in relief. Dean must have taken care of Jimmy somehow.

"Get that thing off his throat," John said.

Dean gingerly pulled at it and was relieved to find that it pulled out of the ground fairly easily after just a couple of tugs. John pulled out the one at his knees and Dean removed the one at his hips. Dean pulled Sam into a sitting position and removed the blindfold.

Sam blinked against the sun. Dean was about to take off the gag.

"Wait, Dean. It might be better to leave that in while I take off the trap."

SSS

After Jimmy had caught a fish, he was in a much better mood. Of course he couldn't kill his brother. Joey was the only family he had left, even if was just a replacement. His mistake had been to try to threaten Joey into his role. He needed to nurture him into it. With that in mind, he started hiking back to Joey.


	6. Chapter 6

When Jimmy got to the cabin, he could hear voices. He recognized the smug tones of John Winchester.

He pulled out his gun and approached the wall slowly.

Sam looked up past Dean and saw Jimmy. He screamed behind the gag. John had set the gun down to try to get the trap off. Dean was helping Sam stay sitting up. He didn't have a gun in his hand either. They both turned to see Jimmy pointing a gun straight at Dean.

Dean positioned himself fully in front of Sam.

"Get away from my brother," Jimmy said.

"He's my brother," Dean countered.

Jimmy cocked his gun.

"Dean," John said. He didn't want either of his sons being hurt by this psychopath. "What do you want?"

"Get up. Both of you," Jimmy ordered.

Dean carefully lay Sam back down. He didn't seem strong enough to sit up on his own right now. He looked longingly at his gun next to him, but Jimmy pulled the trigger, shooting it away from him. "Don't even think about it."

Dean got up. That shot had come uncomfortably close to Sam. John was already standing up. "Get inside," Jimmy ordered.

John walked in first, followed by Dean. Jimmy grabbed the back of his jacket and stuck his gun in the base of his neck. "Pull up that rug. The door to the root cellar is under it," he ordered John.

John looked back to see his oldest son being held hostage. He knew they were totally screwed. If he opened up the root cellar they were going to be locked in there. He remembered the skeleton back in the padded room. If he didn't open it up, Dean's brains would be splattered all over the cabin. It wasn't much of a choice, but he opened up the root cellar. "Go down the ladder."

John went down the ladder and Jimmy shoved Dean over. "Now you." He moved the gun so that he was pointing it down at John. These Winchesters were so easy. You just used them against each other. Dean went down the ladder. Jimmy pulled the ladder up and slammed the door down. Then he pushed the coffee table over the door. Even if they could figure out how to get up to the door, they weren't going anywhere. He went back outside.

"Are you OK, Joey?" he asked and removed the gag.

"What did you do with them?" Sam asked in a whisper. His mouth was so dry just that was agonizing. It felt like it was on fire.

"They're in the root cellar." Jimmy ran back inside and got a glass of water. He could tell that Joey was really thirsty. He held the glass up to his lips and watched him drink greedily. "That better?"

Sam nodded.

Jimmy put his hand against Sam's forehead. "You're burning up. You must have gotten an infection. I shouldn't have punished you so harshly."

"Can you take the trap off? Please?" It was all he could think about. All he wanted right now.

"Of course," Jimmy said and set to doing it as gently as possible. Even so, Sam yelled pretty loudly. Jimmy was glad there were no neighbors within a mile.

"Come on, I'll take you to the doctor, Joey." He took off the handcuffs.

"What? I thought you were mad at me."

"I was, but then I realized it was my fault. I'm not going to threaten you anymore. As a matter of fact, I'm taking off the leg device. " Joey removed the device as he was talking.

"What about Dean and my dad?" Sam asked.

"That's not your father, Joey. But, to answer your question, they'll stay down there. As long as you're a good, loving brother, you can feed them. If you try to get help, I'll come back and shoot them. I guarantee you, I can always beat anyone back here. For now, with that leg, I don't really have to worry about you overpowering me."

Sam had to admit that was true.

SSS

John and Dean heard Sam's yelling. "I'm going to kill that son of a bitch," Dean vowed.

"First we have to figure out a way out of here," John pointed out.

Neither one of them had any ideas of how to do that. The cellar was completely empty and they had heard Jimmy putting some kind of furniture over the door.

SSS

Jimmy and Sam went down to the clinic.

"How did this happen?" the doctor asked.

"I was hiking and I stepped in a bear trap," Sam said.

"It looks like it happened a few hours ago. Why the wait?"

"He went up to the cabin alone, and had no way to call for help," Jimmy supplied.

"What happened to your shirt?" the doctor asked.

Sam looked down at his beribboned shirt. "Um," he couldn't think of an excuse for that.

"Want to fill this prescription while we finish up here?" the doctor asked Jimmy, handing him a slip of paper.

"Sure," Jimmy said. "I assume you'll behave yourself, Joey?"

"Of course," Sam said. As soon as Jimmy was gone, Sam decided it was now or never. "Doc, I'm not really his brother. He's kidnapped me and my real brother and dad are up at his cabin locked in his root cellar."

"What?"

"Please, you have to call the police."

"OK, there's a phone in the next room. I'll call them now. They'll be able to intercept him when he comes back here with your antibiotics.

Sam sighed a breath of relief as the doctor went to make the call. This was finally over. The doctor came back ten minutes later. "They have your brother, or your not brother, I guess and they're on their way up to his cabin.

"Thanks, doc. I can finally relax."

"Speaking of which, I'd like to give you a sedative."

"I'd rather not," Sam said. "I want to be awake when my dad and brother get here. Besides, it's just an infection."

"I know. This sedative won't make you sleep. It just kind of relaxes you. You are understandably very tense and I'm afraid that's going to affect your fever. It's a pill, so there's no shot," the doctor promised.

"I'll be awake when my family gets here?"

"Well, I can't guarantee that with or without the pills. You look ready to drop."

Sam smiled. "Well, yeah, I do feel like sleeping. Just let them wake me up when they get here."

"Of course," the doctor said and handed Sam two pills. He took them and the doctor left him alone.

SSS

Sam woke up in the clinic. He was in a straitjacket once again. There were leather straps pinning him to the bed. The door opened. The doctor came in followed by Jimmy. "Good thing your brother warned me that you were delusional and liable to hurt yourself."


	7. Chapter 7

"I warned you about this, Joey," Jimmy said.

"Doc, I'm not delusional," Sam said.

"And I'm not stupid. Jimmy's my cousin. So was Joey."

"Sit up," Jimmy said, helping him do so after he undid the straps.

He put a gag in his mouth, a blindfold over his eyes and put the headphones over his ears again. He then helped him to stand up and guided him outside.

Sam had to rely on Jimmy to go wherever they were going. He could see or hear nothing. He stepped on some glass with his good foot and cried out behind the gag.

Unheard by Sam, Jimmy looked back at the doctor and said, "That was a good idea. Thanks."

He continued to walk Sam out who was not trying to favor both legs.

Sam felt himself being pushed down into what seemed to be the jeep. They traveled uphill for a little while and Sam was pretty sure they were returning to the cabin. The jeep stopped and a couple of minutes later he felt Jimmy pulling him out of the jeep and propel him forward. Then he was shoved down. He felt himself on cold ground. He felt himself being pushed into a lying down position. He felt the "staple blade" over his throat again. He felt the other going over his hips. Then het felt the blade go over his knees and then he felt his feet being tied together. Then nothing. He just lay there. Alone for all he knew. Or Jimmy could be close by watching him.

SSS

Jimmy went inside and moved the coffee table. He lifted up the root cellar door and threw some food down to his prisoners.

"Where's Sam?" they both asked.

"Sam doesn't exist anymore. You don't need to worry about Joey." With that he shut the door and replaced the table

SSS

Sam was shivering. He had no idea how long he had been like this, but he figured all night. He could feel sunlight on him. Then it went away in a spot. Someone was blocking the sun. He felt the throat blade being taken off. He felt himself being lifted to a half sitting position. The gag was removed. He felt something that tasted like oatmeal coming into his mouth by a spoon. As soon as he had been fed a few bites of that, he felt a glass and water was in his mouth. Then the gas was back in, he was pushed back down and the blade was back in place.

SSS

Sam was feeling hot again. He was also stiff. He felt another shadow blocking the sun. Again the blade was removed from his throat, he was lifted up and fed a sandwich. He was given more water and lain back down and the knife was put back into position.

SSS

The sun was just beginning to go down. Sam once again felt the blade removed from his throat. He was fed once again and left in place once again. Hours went by. All day he had slept off and on, so he was pretty much totally awake now. He thought he felt something crawling over him. He hoped it was just a mouse and not a rat. He had no way to move at all in order to displace whatever it was. Finally, it left of its own accord.

He had never known this, never thought about it, but having no sight or hearing was absolutely terrifying. You have no way of knowing what's two feet away from you.

SSS

Jimmy came out the next night and looked at Joey. He had been there for approximately 48 hours. He had had no food or water or breaks in the last 24. That was probably long enough to learn his lesson. He knelt next to him and took out the gag, removed the blindfold and the headphones.

"Joey, I want you to tell me why you don't like it here with me."

Sam had no idea how to answer that. He had to answer in some way to appease Jimmy or he would probably be left here to rot. "I know now that I was wrong. I thought you were trying to hurt me, but now I see that you're just trying to teach and protect me."

"You'd better mean that, Joey."

"I do," Sam said. More than anything he wanted to ask about Dean and his dad, but he was afraid to.

Jimmy ran his hand through Sam's hair. "Can I remove the blades and let you up?"

"Yes, please," Sam said.

Jimmy did so. Sam waited for Jimmy to come and lift him up. They were back inside the cabin in moments.

Jimmy sat down next to Sam on the couch. He then laid Sam down so that he was using his lap as a pillow. "You won't make me do that to you again, will you?"

Sam shook his head.

"That's my good boy," he said, rubbing his hand through Sam's hair again. It was the only way he knew of how to show his affection.

"I'm not really tired," Sam said. He had done nothing but lay down for he didn't know how long.

"I'll get you some sleeping pills."

"No," Sam protested.

"It's OK," Jimmy said. He gently got up from under Sam and retrieved the pills. "Open up."

Sam figured this was better than getting stuck outside with all senses cut off again. Jimmy placed the pills in his mouth, gave him some water and made sure he swallowed.

SSS

Sam woke up in the morning. Jimmy was nowhere in sight. He saw a note on the coffee table. He looked over and read it.

Dear Joey,

I've gone out to get groceries. I'll be back soon.

Love, Jimmy

Sam quickly rolled off the couch and went over to the sharp edge he had seen earlier. He went to work running it up and down his back. It took a while, and his back was bloody, but he got loose of the straitjacket. He then moved the coffee table and lifted up the trap door.

"Get the ladder, Sam," John yelled.

Sam looked. The ladder was all the way across the room. He made his way over as quickly as he could and got it. He was so weak after all the rest of his work.

"Should we wait for him to come back?" Dean asked.

"I'd prefer to just leave," Sam said.

They got outside. Dean ran to where they had left the Impala to find all four tires slashed. He swore and ran back to his family. He had just wasted 10 minutes. He explained the situation.

"I'll just slow you down. You guys go and get help," Sam said.

"Sam, that's stupid," Dean said.

"Dean, I don't have any shoes. My leg is in pretty bad shape. I'm exhausted from the fever."

"You can wear mine," John said, trying to fix the one thing he could from that list.

"One, that would leave you without shoes. Two, I have the biggest feet of the three of us. I can't wear either one of your shoes and you know it."

"Son, you're just going to have to try. I know it'll hurt, but we have to get out of here," John said in his most commanding voice and led the way.

"We're not walking on the road?" Sam asked.

"Don't you think that will make us a bit easy to spot when he comes back?" John asked.

They walked about fifty yards into the woods and found a stream. "Great, we'll follow this out," John said.

Sam stepped into the water. The stream wasn't deep and it felt good on his feet. "That's good thinking," John praised.

When they had walked about an hour, Jimmy jumped out from the bushes and landed directly behind Sam. "I knew you'd use the stream. You're so predictable, John. Let's go back home."

"We're not going with you," Dean said.

Jimmy pulled out his gun and held it up to Sam's head. He grabbed him around the chest and started backing up with him. "If I can't have him nobody can."

"Don't let him take me back with him. No matter what." If those were his only two choices, he would rather have Jimmy shoot him here than bring him back for more mind games.

"Shh," Jimmy whispered in Sam's ear. "It'll be OK." Jimmy continued backing up with Sam. Dean started to follow, but Jimmy shoved the gun tighter into Sam's temple. "Stay there."

"Dean," Sam begged.

Dean was torn. He knew that Sam didn't want to go with Jimmy, but he couldn't just let Jimmy shoot him. Jimmy backed him all the way to the cabin. He opened the door and backed in with Sam. "Sit down!" He didn't expect Sam to obey him with his family outside waiting to save him, so he punched him, dazing him and Sam fell down to the floor. He grabbed the sleeping pills and shoved two of them in Sam's mouth.

"What was that for?" Sam asked, after Jimmy had made sure he swallowed.

"Trust me. You'll thank me for that." Jimmy grabbed the can of gasoline he had in case he ran out up here. He doused the floor all along the wall where the door was. He lit a match.

"What are you doing?" Sam yelled. He didn't want to die in a fire. He was already falling asleep, though.

"We'll be together forever. Nobody will be able to separate us," he said. He sat down next to Sam and held him next to him.

John and Dean arrived at the house to see smoke coming from the door. They ran around the side. "Dad, over here," Dean yelled when he found a window they could get through.

They climbed through the window and found Sam and Jimmy lying on the floor. "He's mine," Jimmy yelled. Dean punched Jimmy and Jimmy fell back. Dean and John lifted Sam up and quickly exited the same window they had come in through.

"Let's go," John said. He didn't want to be anywhere near this place when the body was found. He wasn't sure how they were going to get Dean's car back, but that didn't seem particularly important right now.

They carried Sam out to Jimmy's waiting Jeep.

SSS

Sam woke up in a hospital bed again. He couldn't seem to move. He could open his eyes and move them. But, his arms and legs wouldn't move.

"I think you're brother and father brought you here instead of a hospital, because they thought there would be less questions."

Sam saw Jimmy's cousin the doctor standing above him. He tried to open his mouth to speak, but couldn't.

"That's the drugs that I gave you earlier. You're involuntary muscles all work, but your voluntary ones are all shut down. You're going to have a heart attack brought on by the difficulties of the last few days." Sam noticed that he had had a syringe in his hand the whole time and he was preparing to inject the IV. "This will hurt quite a bit. I wanted you awake for that. It was the least I could do for Jimmy. Dean may be awake by then, too." Sam now saw that Dean was sleeping in the chair by the door. "I gave him the same drug I gave you the other day. He'll wake up shortly, so I have to hurry."

The doctor went ahead and injected the IV with the drugs. "Don't worry you won't be able to tear the IV out, of course, due to the fact that you're immobile. Both drugs are untraceable. I'll easily get away with your murder."

"I don't think so," they heard from the door." John Winchester was standing there with a gun. He pulled the trigger and the doctor toppled to the floor. John rushed up and pulled the IV out. "Are you OK?"

Sam couldn't answer him.

"Dean?" John asked. He went over and shook him. He knew the doctor had done something to Sam. He could only hope he wasn't too late. But, if he did something to Dean to, John would hunt him through the afterlife.

"Dad?" Dean asked. He saw the doctor dead on the floor. "What happened.

"The doc must have been in on it the whole time," John explained. "We got to get Sammy out of here. He doesn't seem to be able to move or speak."

They found a wheelchair by the door. John was glad this was a one-man operation. They got Sam situated into the chair and out to the Impala.

"So, that's where you went," Dean said. Normally, he would be overjoyed to see his baby, but he had more pressing concerns. "What's wrong with Sam."

"I'm not sure. The doctor had just put something in Sam's IV to kill him, though. It hadn't had time to get to his system yet, so this must have been just to immobilize him. I think he wanted Sam awake for his death.

"Hospital or hotel?" Dean asked as he slid behind the steering wheel.

"Hotel," John decided. He was pretty sure this was going to wear off and it would be hard to explain.

They decided to get at least 100 miles away before they stopped. After all, they'd left a burned down cabin and a gunshot doctor behind. When they pulled into a hotel parking lot they heard Sam moan from the back seat.

"Sammy?" Dean asked.

"Jimmy dead?" he asked stiffy. He didn't think he could take it if there was any chance of Jimmy coming after him again.

"Yeah, Sammy, he's dead," John reassured him. "Can you walk?" Carrying Sam would be a collossal pain.

"Give me a couple minutes. It feels like when your legs go to sleep and then they're all tingling when they're waking up."

"Other than that are you OK?" Dean asked.

"Yeah."

A few minutes later, Sam got out of the car, with Dean supporting him.

"You two go get settled. I'll unpack some stuff."

"OK," Dean said.

SSS

After making several trips back and forth to the car, John went out one last time. He waited a few minutes and looked in the door and saw Dean and Sam talking. They didn't see him and he didn't want to interrupt. He had to get back to hunting the thing that killed Mary. It was the only way to ultimately save Sam.

SSS

"I can't believe he left us again," Sam said bitterly when they finally realized John was gone.

" Dean, I just want you to know that you're the best big brother ever. Definitely better than a shapeshifter and a psycho."

"That is steep competition," Dean said sarcastically. "Although the shapeshifter was handsome."

Sam rolled his eyes but he wouldn't trade his big brother for the world.

SSS

Jimmy felt his spirit leaving his body. His bones were pretty well burnt, but he was being kept here by unfinished business. He had meant what he said before. If he could have Joey, nobody could. He may not be able to leave his woods, but they would be back.

The End

A/N Don't worry. I'm not actually planning on doing a sequel to this. Just really liked the ominous ending.


End file.
